This Week’s New Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books: Sun-Blessed Princesses, Life in the Rural Post-Apocalypse, and Mathematical Space Opera

Starless, by Jacqueline Carey (June 12, Tor Books—Hardcover)
The author of the beloved Kushiel novels returns to epic fantasy with a whole new adventure. Chosen at birth to be a shadow—one bonded to the Sun-Blessed Princess Zariya of the House of the Ageless, and sworn to protect her—Khai has spent his whole life in the desert, preparing for his role. As his presentation to the princess draws near, however, Khai discovers he is actually bhazim—born genetically female, and raised as a male, even as learns of a prophecy of a fallen god rising in the west, whom the Sun-Blessed is destined to fight. Princess Zariya is determined to fulfill prophecy, despite her frail health, and so must assemble a force of untested defenders to face the awesome power of a risen god—including Khai, must navigate love, friendship, and overwhelming odds to serve his princess and survive.

We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories, by C. Robert Cargill (June 12, Harper Voyager—Hardcover)
Novelist and screenwriter Cargill (Sea of Rust, Doctor Strange) assembles a collection of 10 chilling stories, all linked by their fantastic, horrifying premises. The living fend off spirits that wish to take their bodies. The extinction of the dinosaurs leads to a battle with undead alpha predators. A little girl discovers a hidden door in her wall, and going through it, encounters less than wonderful. A would-be terrorist gets a surprising offer just before committing a violent act.

The Last Sun, by K.D. Edwards
Edwards’ debut novel begins a new epic fantasy series with memorable magic,intriguing worldbuilding, intriguing characters, and plenty of swordplay. The island of New Atlantis (created after the Atlantean World War destroyed the original “lost city”) is ruled by courts who take their names from the Tarot. Two orphaned members of the fallen Sun Court, Rune St. John and his bodyguard Brand, make their living in service to the other courts, and after participating on a raid against the Lovers Court, they fall into a nest of intrigue involving missing nobles and ravenous monsters, which may hold the secret to the events that led to the ruination of the Sun Court. Rune makes for an enjoyably snarky narrator, and his interplay with Brand lends the book a lot of heart. It’s a very promising series starter, and an impressive debut.

A Demon in Silver, by R.S. Ford
R.S. Ford (the Steelhaven trilogy) begins a new epic fantasy series set in a world drained of its magic in an event known as the Fall, and ravaged by the wars and upheaval that followed it. A century later, unassuming country girl Livia Harrow becomes the first person to display magical talent in generations, and has no idea how to control her powers. As word of her abilities spreads, she is hunted by all the varying factions vying for power, all of whom hope to use her as a pawn in a game of conquest. There is also wider worldbuilding at work, as exiled gods known as the Archons watch from the sidelines and concoct their own schemes, laying the groundwork for future volumes.

Before the Storm, by Christie Golden (June 12, Del Rey—Hardcover)
A prequel to the upcoming expansion of the video game World of Warcraft, Golden’s novel is set after the Horde and the Alliance have turned back the Burning Legion. In the battle’s waning moments, the titan Sargeras struck a blow that wounded the heart of Azeroth—and now Azeroth is dying, and a remarkable material known as Azerite is unleashed. Azerite can be used to create or destroy, and the Horde and the Alliance must unite again unlock its secrets use it to heal the world. But Azerite’s power makes betrayal very tempting. Anduin Wrynn, the king of Stormwind, drafts a desperate plan to bring lasting peace—but can the Dark Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, warchief of the Horde, be trusted?

Night Fall, by Simon R. Green
Green binds together and ties off two long-running urban fantasy series with Night Fall, which brings into conflict the Drood, the guardians of history from the Secret History books, and the residents of the Nightside, London’s dark underworld, explored in that eponymous series. In defiance of ancient treaties, the Droods enter Nightside, determining it to be a threat to humanity, and trigger an all-out war that soon draws in other otherworldly communities, both magical and science-fictional, from the Spawn of Frankenstein to the Soulhunters. Before the smoke clears, more than a few long-established characters will fall. It’s no place to jump into Green’s body of work, but it will definitely satisfy readers used to following him around dark corners.

Shelter, by Dave Hutchinson
Here’s something a little different: a post-apocalyptic story in the rural English countryside. It has been a century since a rain of asteroids known as the Sisters fell from the sky, kicking up a cloud of dust that brought on a decades-long winter, and with it, disease, starvation, and the collapse of society. Life persists within the small, southern communities of Little England, scavenger towns picking clean the bones of a dead civilization. But as the endless storms begin to abate, humanity proves itself as capable as ever of becoming its own worst enemy, as a dangerous new leader begins to take power, and rumors of terrible events to the north cause even the tight-knit enclaves of Little England to fray. Hutchison has written vivid novels of a world in downfall (the award-winning Fractured Europe trilogy), and proves to be just as compelling when mulling the resiliance (or not) of our species in the aftermath of disaster.

Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (June 12, Solaris—Paperback)
Lee brings the Hugo and Nebula award-nominated Machineries of Empire trilogy to its conclusion with a brainy, fast-paced final entry. Shuos Jedao wakes up in the body of a much older man rather than the 17-year old one his memories led him to expect. He’s shocked to discover he’s now a general, commanded by Hexarch Nirai Kujen—a tyrant hiding behind an easy smile—to conquer the haxarchate using an army compelled to obey his every command. Worse—he quickly discovers that the soldiers despise him for a massacre he doesn’t remember committing. Worst—someone is hunting him, seeking to bring him to justice for his crimes. The first two books in the trilogy stretched imaginations and taxed brains, and this one is no different—and no less worth the effort it takes to puzzle it out.

Low Chicago: A Wild Cards Novel, edited by George R.R. Martin (June 12, Tor Books—Hardcover)
George R.R. Martin’s long-running shared universe series grows larger and weird, as eight authors tackle a new, standalone tale in a universe wherein an alien virus released in 1946 transformed those who were infected and survived into superpowered villains (Jokers), heroes (Aces), or something in-between. After a game of Low Chicago goes horribly wrong, the players are sent hurtling back in time. The Immortal John Nighthawk leads a team sent after them by the time-manipulating Sleeper, seeking to effect a retrieval before history is changed for the worse. Not all of the stranded folks are in a hurry to get back to their own time, however. Written by a bunch of authors who are Aces in their own right—including Saladin Ahmed, Christopher Rowe, and Mary Anne Mohanraj—this one will satisfy longtime readers, but it also works as an introduction to the long-running franchise (which is poised to become a TV series).

The Freeze-Frame Revolution, by Peter Watts
This brain-teasing novella from Peter Watts (Blindsight) works well as a standalone but also connects to several other short stories in the Sunflowers sequence (“The Island,” included in his collection Beyond the Rift; “Hotshot,” found in the anthology Reach for Infinity, and “Giants,” published in Clarkesworld Issue 96). The Freeze-Frame Revolution is a sci-fi thought experiment disguised as a story of deep space revolution. The crew of the ship Eriophora is on a mission to build interstellar gates through space—a job intended to take more than 60 million years or real time; crew members are awake for one day every few millennia, their waking cycles controlled by Chimp, the ship’s AI. One of the crew, Sunday Ahzmundin, uses her brief moments out of suspended animation to investigate the death of one fellow crewmember and the disappearance of another, and uncovers a secret that could unravel the closed society onboard the ship. There’s a lot of complexity packed in these 192 pages, and hints that there are more stories yet to come (and at least one that is already out there, if you know how to decipher the clues Watts has left within the text).